Syria Is Not Kosovo

AS the United States Congress debates intervention in Syria, the
precedent of NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign in Kosovo is being cited to
justify using military force against the government of Bashar al-Assad.

The United States should respond militarily to Mr. Assad’s use of
chemical weapons to murder his own citizens. Yet as a matter of law and
policy, the Kosovo war is no precedent for airstrikes against Syria.

It’s true that Russia and China were opposed to a United Nations
Security Council resolution to authorize the use of force in Kosovo in
1999, and they are opposed to such a resolution on Syria today. But that is where the similarity ends....